Macomb residents bask in hockey's return

The return of hockey to Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday night brought with it an outpouring of passion by Detroit Red Wings fans from Macomb County.

After a nearly four-month long lockout, the National Hockey League resumed play last Saturday. Following a pair of games on the road, Tuesday’s home opener against Dallas represented the first time in over 100 days that Wings fans got to see their team in an official game setting.

As could be expected among the fans, the overwhelming emotion was relief.

“It was painful, but we’re excited to be back and we never lost faith,” Ben Pellerito said.

A 44-year-old surgeon from Washington Township and first-year season ticket holder, Pellerito brought three of his four children with him to the game. Sons, Pietro, 13, Antonio, 12, and Benedetto, 8, flanked their father and each wore an enormous grin when the subject of hockey emerged.

The boys play in a local youth hockey league, and they were at the rink when news of the lockout ending first broke.

“Being a hockey player, it is so fun to watch them play,” Antonio said. “I was at the arena, and our coach told us it was over.”

The group was hardly alone in its jubilation.

St. Clair Shores residents Chris Smith, a 34-year-old steelworker and his wife, 33-year-old optician Crystal, rewrote their winter plans twice this year. Once when the lockout began, and again when the season started up.

“It was just sad, because this is our tradition,” Chris Smith said. “Not coming down here during the holidays was no fun at all.”

His wife echoed that sentiment.

“We pretty much counted it out,” Crystal Smith said. “But when they said it was on, we were like, ‘Oh we’ve got to rearrange our lives.’”

The couple has been coming to The Joe for the last three years as season ticket holders, and were a constant fixture at the local eateries — another part of their hockey-going pregame tradition.

Now they have the chance to return to old haunts and renew the camaraderie that makes Joe Louis Arena such a historic venue.

Another pair of friends, Leelie Gietzen of Sterling Heights and Jayne Campbell of Macomb Township, were thrilled with the return of professional hockey. The duo, who have been best friends since their motorcycle-riding days of the early 1990s, became first-time season ticket holders a year ago.

Count them among the fans who have little fear of the Wings not extending its 21-year streak of qualifying for the postseason.

“There’s no problem here,” Gietzen began. “Look at The Joe. It’s full. They might’ve lost a few people, but they’ll be back. The organization is a great one. They are back and we are back, so life is good.”

Campbell chimed in exuberantly as well: “Hey, we came out in one-degree temperatures! We have to be real fans!”

Of all the Macomb County fans in attendance, perhaps none was as diehard as Kyle Franklin. He estimates that he’s missed attending no more than a few home games since the last NHL lockout in 2004.

A 29-year-old union plumber and president of the Red Wings “For’em Win or Lose” fan club, Franklin was weighed down by the seemingly never-ending lockout.

“It was depressing, boring and I was just sitting around listening to the rumors,” Franklin explained. Once the lockout finally ended, he was inundated with Facebook messages and texts from friends who shared the same passionate relief that an agreement finally was made.

So on Tuesday, it was back to the familiar trek for Franklin. He remains steadfast in his belief that the Red Wings will return to the dominant form that has characterized the past two decades.

“I’ve been excited all day today, and once that puck drops, it’ll be good times,” he said. “I know the first game wasn’t a good showing (Wings lost 6-0), but we have a lot of new players this year and they have to live up to the history and tradition of our past.”

Even a shaky start to the season — which saw the Detroitshut out by St. Louis and barely edge Columbus in its first two games — has clearly not deterred the dedication of Macomb County’s hockey fans.